Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus | Origins & History | Britannica

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus became the best-known traveling circus in the United States during the 20th century. Its origins can be traced to a traveling circus founded in Wisconsin in 1867. By 1872, under the direction of showman P.T. Barnum, it was branded as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Changing audience tastes and controversies over the circus’s treatment of animals resulted in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ceasing operations in 2017. The circus resumed performances, without animals, in 2023. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had its roots in Dan Castello’s Great Circus & Egyptian Caravan, which was founded in Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1867 by two veteran circus men, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup. Featuring eight camels that had belonged to the U.S. Army’s experimental Camel Corps, Castello and Coup’s circus toured the Upper Midwest, both overland and by boat. It also traveled west by train shortly after the completion of the transcontine

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus became the best-known traveling circus in the United States during the 20th century. Its origins can be traced to a traveling circus founded in Wisconsin in 1867. By 1872, under the direction of showman P.T. Barnum, it was branded as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Changing audience tastes and controversies over the circus’s treatment of animals resulted in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ceasing operations in 2017. The circus resumed performances, without animals, in 2023. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had its roots in Dan Cast